On May 2, the South Rowan High School JROTC Raider Challenge Team took first place overall at the annual Fort Bragg Best-Raider competition, beating 46 teams representing 23 high schools from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
This is the second consecutive year South Rowan has defended their title, giving them three straight Best Raider championships.
The Best Raider competition is composed of five challenging events that each team must complete (in a round-robin format) within 5 hours.
The events are:
– 5.3-mile cross country run.
This is an individually timed running event in which the combined time of the 4 team members is totaled for the final score. South Rowan took first place in this event.
– 5.3 mile-orienteering course. In this event, the four-man Raider Challenge team is broken into two teams that transverse the 5.3-mile course in search of 10 checkpoints that are marked on a strip map and are found along the course as 6-inch by 12-inch signs posted to trees. South Rowan took first place in this event.
– 30-foot climbing wall.
In this even,t the four-man team ascends four separate lanes of a climbing wall simultaneously. The time starts on the command to GO and ends when the last Raider touches the buzzer at the top of his respective lane. South Rowan took first place in this event.
– 52-foot 4-man rope bridge.In this event the 4-man raider team must build a single rope bridge that spans a 52- foot gap, then cross to the other side. This is done by tying the rope to two trees on either side of the 52-foot gap. After the rope is tightened and secured, Raiders cross by hooking onto the rope with a snap-link and hip harness allowing them to pull themselves across the gap. Once Raiders are on the other side, the bridge must be disassembled and placed on the far side of the gap. This event is timed and places emphasis on correct knot tying and safety. Penalties are assessed for improperly tied knots or safety violations. South Rowan took second place in this event.
– 70-yard ammunition crate shuttle run.In this event, Raiders form into two-man teams and carry 10 ammunition crates filled with sand bags. The 10 crates are stacked 70 yards from the starting line and must be retrieved and re-stacked on a pallet adjacent to the starting line. The ammunition crates differ in size and weight with the heaviest crates weighing 140 pounds. South Rowan took fourth place in this event.
Overall team placement is determined by a simple “low-point” scoring system. For each event, a team receives a point that equals their respective placement in that event.
For example, first place receives 1 point, second place receives 2 points, third place receives 3 points and so on. The team with the lowest combined score for all five events is the overall champion.
Raider Teams compete for first- through third-place streamers in each event and for overall standing (a streamer is a narrow embroidered pennant that is attached to the team flag). However, due to the incredibly challenging nature of this competition, it is the individuals on the winning team who receive the championship trophies (rather than a single team trophy).
Additionally, in keeping with the spirit of a “Best-Raider” format, this is a winner-take-all competition in which only the first-place team receives the coveted “Iron-Mike” championship trophies.
There are no trophies for second place.